Stephen Miller, a top White House adviser, said the administration is looking for ways to expand its legal power to deport migrants who are in the country illegally.
“The Constitution is clear — and that of course is the supreme law of the land — that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion,” Miller told reporters. “So it’s an option that we’re actively looking at.”
Habeas corpus refers to people’s right to challenge their detention in court.
Meanwhile, President Trump on Friday floated cutting tariffs on China to 80 percent ahead of a weekend meeting as he looks to de-escalate the trade war.
Here’s how Friday unfolded.
Vance declines to comment on past criticisms of him by Pope Leo XIV — 7:55 p.m.
By the Associated Press
“I try not to play the ‘politicization of the pope’ game,” the vice president said Friday in an interview with conservative host Hugh Hewitt. “I’m sure he’s going to say a lot of things that I love. I’m sure he’ll say some things that I disagree with, but I’ll continue to pray for him and the church despite it all and through it all and that’ll be the way that I handle it.”
Pope Leo XIV shared his criticisms of Vance and the Trump administration on social media before he ascended to the papacy.
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In the interview, Vance, a convert to Catholicism, said he knows the church will touch on public policy from time to time. But he said, “it’s better for all of us if we allow the church to be about the saving of souls” and don’t try to fit it into a “pre-ordained political box.”
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Vance says Trump is nicer than his critics give him credit for — just ask his 5-year-old son — 7:34 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Vance says Trump has a softer side than the president’s critics realize.
As an example, Vance talked about his son calling him via FaceTime while the vice president was meeting with the president.
Vance told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Friday that he and Trump were meeting the previous day when his 5-year-old called while on the way home from preschool.
“The president’s like, ‘Pick it up,’” Vance said. “And I answer it, and he talks with my 5-year-old in the middle of a meeting in the Oval Office.”
Vance added, “That’s the kind of guy that he actually is.”
Vance says he was on the ‘edge of my seat’ waiting to learn who would be the next pope — 7:33 p.m.
By the Associated Press
The vice president said in an interview with conservative host Hugh Hewitt that he was anxious like a lot of other people after seeing the white smoke billowing from the chimney at the Sistine Chapel.
He called an American-born pope a “big moment, of course for American Catholics and, I think, the American people writ large.”
Vance, who is a Catholic convert, said he’d pray for Pope Leo XIV.
“We don’t know a whole lot about him, but I just wish him the best,” Vance said in Friday’s interview. “We’ll pray for his wisdom, for his good decisions and his good health and hope that he has a long and successful papacy.”
Trump takes aim at energy efficient showers and sinks — 7:30 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Trump has signed a presidential memorandum he says will undo “useless water pressure standards.”
In it, the president pointed to an energy efficiency policy approved in 1992, which he argues “make bathroom appliances more expensive and less functional.” The order says standards meant to enforce environmental efficiency can make “American appliances like clothes washers and dishwashers less useful, more breakable, and more expensive to repair.”
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Trump’s order directs the Energy Department to work to rescind “these unnecessary radical green agenda policies.”
Water pressure is a topic that has long delighted Trump. During a Friday afternoon Oval Office meeting with lawmakers, Trump looked at a stack of legislation he was signing and excitedly asked, “Do you have the sinks one in here?”
Trump signs executive order meant to speed implementation of his executive actions — 7:10 p.m.
By the Associated Press
The Federal Register is the official daily publication for the federal government, and is a journal of official actions taken by agencies and the president. But Friday’s order complains that “the Office of the Federal Register frequently takes days or, in some cases, even weeks, to publish new regulatory actions.”
It directs the archivist of the United States — a post Secretary of State Marco Rubio currently holds in an acting capacity — to work with the Office of the Federal Register and government publishing office to reduce publication delays by modernizing computer systems and “eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy.”
The order is intended to speed implementation of Trump’s efforts to wipe out past government regulations.
Trump’s order also directs officials to study the cost of publication in the Federal Register to see if it can be reduced.
Justice Department seeks dismissal of police reform settlement in New Mexico — 6:55 p.m.
By the Associated Press
The U.S. Justice Department and city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, asked a judge on Friday to dismiss a decade-old police reform settlement against the city.
Albuquerque came into the spotlight nearly a decade ago as community members and activists began protesting a pattern of excessive force by officers, resulting in an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department. Federal officials harshly criticized the police force but reached an agreement with the city to improve training and dismantle troubled units.
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The Justice Department and the city say the settlement should be dismissed because the city is in full compliance with the reforms.
White House moves to try and block invasive carp from the Great Lakes — 6:41 p.m.
By the Associated Press
A White House fact sheet says the presidential memorandum Trump signed directs the administration to “expeditiously implement the most effective mechanisms, barriers, and other measures to prevent the migration and expansion of invasive carp in the Great Lakes Basin and the surrounding region.”
It endorses construction of the Brandon Road Interbasin Project in Illinois, which it says will mean “multiple layers of innovative technological deterrents designed to prevent invasive carp from reaching the Great Lakes.”
The White House says the project was delayed by Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, and Trump’s memorandum establishes a deadline of July 1 for “Illinois to acquire necessary land to begin construction” while setting other deadlines for local permits to be granted to facilitate Army Corps construction.
Trump signs executive order to create national center for military veterans experiencing homelessness — 6:34 p.m.
By the Associated Press
The White House says the National Center for Warrior Independence will be housed on the campus of the Department of Veterans Affairs in West Los Angeles.
It will be open to veterans from around the country, with the goal of housing 6,000 veterans by 2028.
The administration says the center will promote self-sufficiency through housing and substance abuse treatment, and will support employment programs for veterans there.
It says federal funding to build and maintain the center is being redirected from facilities previously servicing people in the country lacking permanent legal status.
Trump blames Ross Perot for costing George H.W. Bush reelection — 6:15 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Trump is again endorsing the idea of raising taxes on wealthy Americans while also challenging conventional political wisdom about the 1992 presidential election.
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“I would love to do it frankly,” Trump said when asked about higher tax rates for the wealthy being included in legislation Congress is working on. Congressional Republicans have largely balked at the idea, and Trump himself pointed to President George H.W. Bush.
Bush signed a tax increase into law after campaigning on the slogan “Read my lips” and vowing he’d never raise taxes. Then Bush lost his reelection bid to Bill Clinton in 1992.
“But he lost because of Ross Perot, he didn’t lose because of that statement,” Trump said, referencing Perot, a Texas businessman, who ran for president that year as a third-party candidate.
Congress should raise debt limit by July to avoid default, Bessent says — 6:10 p.m.
By the Washington Post
Lawmakers should raise the nation’s borrowing limit by mid-July to prevent the federal government from defaulting on its bills while Congress is away for its August recess, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday.
In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), Bessent said Treasury Department cash holdings and measures to put off certain payments would expire in August. But lawmakers are scheduled to be in their home districts for nearly that entire month, which could lead to the prospect of a catastrophic default if they don’t address the issue before they leave.
“I respectfully urge Congress to increase or suspend the debt limit by mid-July, before its scheduled break, to protect the full faith and credit of the United States,” Bessent wrote.
Trump says he’s told US negotiators the minimum tariffs he’s willing to charge China — but won’t disclose it — 6:01 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Trump says he’s given U.S. negotiators meeting with a Chinese delegation this weekend a number on how low the U.S. would be willing to go on setting its tariffs on goods imported from China — but he won’t say what it is.
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Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump answered “yeah” when asked if he’d given the U.S. team a number.
Top U.S. officials are meeting this weekend with a high-level Chinese delegation in Switzerland.Trump said, “We have to make a great deal for America,” but added that he wouldn’t be disappointed if no deal was reached this weekend.
“I think we’re going to come back with a fair deal for both China and us,” he said.
Trump signs measures rolling back Biden administration regulations on energy efficiency — 5:52 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Trump signed a series of measures approved by Congress to roll back regulations the Biden administration implemented in its final days.
The four measures he signed Friday evening were approved as part of the Congressional Review Act, which Congress can use at the start of an administration to wipe out policies it doesn’t like from a previous one — though there are time limits on when such actions can be taken.
Flanked by Republican lawmakers, Trump signed measures repealing Biden-era regulations on gas water heaters and walk-in coolers and freezers, as well as energy conservation standards for some appliances and some consumer products and commercial freezers.
“It’s all about common sense,” Trump said.
New FEMA head warns staff who might resist changes — 4:35 p.m.
By the Associated Press
David Richardson addressed staff Friday — a day after the former acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was fired — telling those who might want to hinder upcoming changes at the agency: “Don’t get in my way.” If they did, he said, “I will run right over you.”
“I will achieve the president’s intent,” Richardson said during a call with staffers across the thousands-strong agency.
Richardson is a former Marine Corps officer who served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa. He was named FEMA’s acting administrator on Thursday just after Cameron Hamilton, who’d been leading the agency also in an acting role, was fired.
Richardson arrives at FEMA at a time of immense turmoil and as it prepares for hurricane season.
Trump has suggested abolishing FEMA and providing money directly to states to manage.
Broadway show reacts to Library of Congress firing — 4:17 p.m.
By the Associated Press
The cast and creative team behind the Broadway musical “Dead Outlaw” have canceled an upcoming appearance at the Library of Congress following the firing of Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.
“Dr. Hayden has been a fierce advocate for preserving America’s cultural memory and a great champion of the Broadway community,” reads a statement from the show.
Composers David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna and book writer Itamar Moses on Monday were to donate artifacts representing the development of the musical, which were to be enshrined in the library’s permanent collection. The event was also to feature a performance and discussion from the creative team and Broadway cast members.
“Dead Outlaw” tells the tale of a real life alcoholic drifter turned failed bandit who was shot dead in 1911 and whose afterlife proved to be stranger than fiction. It earned seven Tony Award nominations last week, including for best new musical.
US to accept two dozen white South African refugees while other programs remain paused — 4:06 p.m.
By the Associated Press
The first Afrikaner refugees are arriving Monday at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press. They are expected to be greeted by a government delegation.
The flight will be the first of several in a “much larger-scale relocation effort,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told reporters.
“What’s happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created,” he said. “This is persecution based on a protected characteristic — in this case, race.”
State Department refugee programs have been put on hold since Trump ordered a review in February. While halting arrivals from Afghanistan, Iraq, most of sub-Saharan Africa and throughout Latin America, Trump also issued an executive order prioritizing the processing of white South Africans who claim racial discrimination in their home country.
New Jersey mayor arrested at ICE detention center where he was protesting, prosecutor says — 3:49 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Alina Habba, acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, said on on the social platform X that Newark Mayor Ras Baraka trespassed and ignored warnings from Homeland Security personnel to leave Delaney Hall, an ICE detention facility run by private prison operator GEO Group.
The mayor has been protesting the opening of the facility throughout this week, saying its operators did not get proper permits.
In her social media post, Habba said Baraka had “chosen to disregard the law.” She added that he had been taken into custody.
An email and phone message left with the mayor’s communications office were not immediately answered Friday afternoon.
15 states sue over Trump’s ‘energy emergency’ efforts to fast-track oil and gas projects — 3:42 p.m.
By the Associated Press
The coalition of states says the administration is bypassing environmental protection laws and threatening endangered species, critical habitat and cultural resources.
Trump issued an executive order declaring a “national energy emergency” on the first day of his presidency. The order urges oil and gas expansion through federal use of eminent domain and the Defense Production Act, which allows the government to use private land and resources to produce goods deemed to be a national necessity.
The attorneys general of Washington, California and the other states say those kinds of steps are supposed to be reserved for actual emergencies, like projects needed in after hurricanes or major oil spills.
But now, the attorneys general say, agencies are bypassing required reviews under federal laws like the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act.
They want a judge to declare the executive order unlawful and to bar the government from pursuing emergency permitting for non-emergency projects.
Miller on national security adviser job: ‘Thrilled’ with current job — 3:32 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Asked whether he would consider becoming the next national security adviser, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller isn’t necessarily ruling it out.
But “I’m very thrilled with the job that I currently have, and my focus right now, is I’m supporting Secretary Rubio,” said Miller, referring to the secretary of state who has been tapped to the role in the interim. “Marco and I have become very close friends.”
Could habeas corpus be suspended for migrants? — 3:03 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Stephen Miller says the White House is looking into suspending habeas corpus, which protects people from unlawful detentions: "A lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not." pic.twitter.com/AZLhFy79oZ
— CSPAN (@cspan) May 9, 2025
Stephen Miller, a top White House adviser, said the administration is looking for ways to expand its legal power to deport migrants who are in the country illegally.
“The Constitution is clear — and that of course is the supreme law of the land — that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion,” he told reporters. “So it’s an option that we’re actively looking at.”
Miller added that “a lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not.”
Habeas corpus refers to people’s right to challenge their detention in court.
Judge orders Trump administration to give Mass. back $106 million in COVID funds it took away — 2:45 p.m.
Christopher Huffaker, Globe Staff
Massachusetts schools must again receive access to their remaining COVID-19 relief money, restoring more than $100 million in unspent funds the Trump administration had sought to strip away in March.
Federal district court Judge Edgardo Ramos this week issued the preliminary injunction in response to a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James and 16 other state officials including Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell. The order only applies to the states that sued.
For Massachusetts, that means districts will have access to $106 million of the unspent funds, with New Bedford and Springfield schools accounting for the majority of the money.
Recent US poets laureate blast the firing of the librarian of Congress — 2:28 p.m.
By the Associated Press
The three most recent U.S. poets laureate have condemned the firing of Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, who had appointed each of them to their positions.
“Dr. Carla Hayden is the kindest, brightest, most generous Librarian of Congress we could have hoped for as a nation,” Ada Limón, who last month completed a three-year run as poet laureate, told The Associated Press on Friday.
Joy Harjo, the laureate from 2019-2022, said in a statement that Hayden had” expanded all people’s access to history, literature, art, archives and cultural programming.”
Tracy K. Smith, who served from 2017-2019, told the AP in an email that“Her abrupt firing suggests a desire to tamp down the ceiling on our collective remembering and deprive the collective imagination of vital resources.”
White House dismisses conflict of interest concerns about Trump’s upcoming dinner with memecoin investors — 2:21 p.m.
By the Associated Press
The White House is dismissing conflict of interest concerns about Trump promoting an upcoming dinner for top investors in his memecoin.
Trump will attend a May 22 dinner at his Virginia golf for the largest investors in the memecoin $TRUMP, and has used his social media site to drum up interest.
Pressed on whether some might invest to try and influence Trump’s policy decisions, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “I can assure you, the president acts with only the interests of the American public in mind.”
She said Trump is abiding by “all conflict of interest laws” and has “has been incredibly transparent with his own personal, financial obligation throughout the years.”
Pentagon directs military to pull, review library books that address anti-racism and gender issues in new DEI action — 2:19 p.m.
By the Associated Press
White House sidesteps question on the new pope’s social media — 2:18 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Before Robert Prevost became Pope Leo XIV, he shared criticisms of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on social media, particularly when it comes to immigration policy.
But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt didn’t directly address the issue when asked about it on Friday.
It was a rare instance of the administration holding fire when faced with criticism.
Leavitt said having an American pope is “a great thing for the United States of America and the world, and we are praying for him
White House calls Newark air traffic controllers losing communication a ‘glitch’ — 2:09 p.m.
By the Associated Press
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says the “glitch this morning at Newark” airport was caused by the same issues as last week, but that it didn’t disrupt flights.
Air traffic controllers who guide planes landing and taking off at New Liberty International Airport briefly lost radar and communication with aircraft Friday morning.
“That glitch was caused by the same telecoms and software issues that were raised last week,” Leavitt said. But she added, “Everything went back online after the brief outage and there was no operational impact.”
Iran can’t be allowed to enrich uranium, Witkoff says ahead of talks — 2:06 p.m.
By the Associated Press
US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff said ahead of a new round of nuclear talks with Iran this weekend that the Trump administration wouldn’t allow the country to maintain a domestic uranium enrichment program.
That’s a main criticism of the 2015 nuclear deal Trump left in his first term.“An enrichment program can never exist in the state of Iran ever again,” Witkoff told the conservative outlet Breitbart News in an interview published Friday. “That’s our red line.”
In the talks, Witkoff said Iran had reiterated that it didn’t want to acquire a nuclear weapon, something Iranian officials have said for years.
He added that if the new talks on Sunday weren’t productive, “then they won’t continue, and we’ll have to take a different route.”
WH spokeswoman says US trade deal with UK is essentially finished, though negotiators say otherwise — 2:04 p.m.
By the Associated Press
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says the trade deal with the United Kingdom is effectively completed.
When asked why President Donald Trump presented a deal on Thursday that wasn’t finished and ready to be signed, Leavitt said: “That’s not true.”
But that’s not quite accurate as Trump himself said the final details still need to be negotiated. She later walked back that statement somewhat by saying that trade deals operate by being announced and then negotiators make sure that the “‘t’s’ have to be crossed and the ‘i’s’ have to be dotted.”
The framework’s origins preceded Trump’s April 2 announcement of broad universal tariffs and British officials hope to find ways to lower Trump’s 10% baseline tariff rate.
Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk ordered freed from detention, pending immigration proceedings — 1:35 p.m.
By Sean Cotter and Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio, Globe Staff
A federal judge has ordered the immediate release of Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts PhD candidate whose sudden arrest by federal immigration agents made national news.
Öztürk has been held in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Louisiana for more than six weeks after masked immigration authorities arrested her outside her apartment in Somerville. The only evidence the government has cited for her detention and deportation is an article she wrote for a student newspaper that was critical of Tufts’ stand on Israel’s actions in Gaza, what her supporters have called a violation of her rights to free speech and due process.
White House says Trump’s trip will promote a ‘proud, prosperous and successful’ Middle East — 1:31 p.m.
By the Associated Press
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says of next week’s trip that Trump is making a “historic return to the Middle East.”
Trump leaves Monday and plans stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Leavitt said during her briefing with reporters that the White House wants to promote a “proud, prosperous and successful Middle East.”
“This trip ultimately highlights how we stand on the brink of the golden age” for both that region and the U.S., Leavitt said.
Most Americans disapprove of Trump’s treatment of colleges, a new AP-NORC poll finds — 1:27 p.m.
By the Associated Press
A majority of U.S. adults disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of issues related to colleges and universities, according to a new poll.
The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research comes as Trump’s administration ramps up threats to cut federal funding unless schools comply with his political agenda.
More than half of Americans, 56%, disapprove of the Republican president’s approach on higher education, according to the poll. About 4 in 10 approve with Trump’s approach, which is in line with his overall job approval.
Since taking office in January, Trump has tried to force change at universities he says have become hotbeds of liberalism and antisemitism. The spotlight most recently has been on Harvard University, where Trump’s administration has frozen more than $2.2 billion in federal grants, threatened to strip the school’s tax-exempt status, and demanded broad policy changes.
Pull climate and other funding from richer nations to keep millions alive after aid cuts, group says — 1:11 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Leading aid organizations are reallocating where they’re sending resources as countries including the U.S. funnel less money to foreign assistance.
It’s time to pull some donor funding for programs in better-off countries that target everything from climate change to refugee resettlement so that millions of people in the most vulnerable countries get what they need to survive, according to David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee.
Miliband told The Associated Press this week that it’s time to change priorities to move at least half of the world’s aid budget to the poorest and most conflict-ridden places. Currently, a quarter of total aid goes to such places.
The shifting of resources shows the impact of the Trump administration’s decision to pull the U.S. back from being the world’s single largest aid donor.
Transgender veteran says purging the military could cause a lot of problems — 12:50 p.m.
By the Associated Press
A transgender Marine veteran says ousting service members poses a problem for several reasons.
It could make the military less prepared, and it would disrupt life for the ousted service members and their families, said Sarah Klim, who served for 23 years but never openly because she retired in 2016, right as the end to the ban on transgender troops was announced.
Klimm, who is now a policy analyst for Minority Veterans of America, is also concerned about what happens to medical treatment for ousted troops as the Department of Veterans Affairs phases out gender-affirming care for transgender vets.
“They don’t have a warm and fuzzy feeling about being taken care of by the VA,” she said.
Proposal to triple the state and local tax deduction is ‘insulting,’ some GOP lawmakers say — 12:27 p.m.
By the Associated Press
Congressional Republicans from New York say a House proposal that would triple the cap on state and local tax deductions is “insulting” and would threaten the chances to extend the individual tax cuts passed in President Donald Trump’s first term.
The tax cut package passed in Trump’s first term placed a $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions. Lawmakers from New York, California and New Jersey are leading efforts to lift the cap.
Rep. Nick LaLota tweeted a joint statement from four New York Republicans who say Speaker Mike Johnson and members of the House Ways and Means Committee unilaterally proposed a $30,000 cap. They say that was an amount “they already knew would fall short of earning our support.”
Separately, Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., tweeted that she and one of the four New York Republicans, Rep. Andrew Garbarino, remain committed to a fair deal and that “this isn’t an offer — it’s a slap in the face to the hardworking taxpayers we represent.”
The protests signal the difficulties Republicans will have in getting their tax cut and border security package through the House before Johnson’s goal of Memorial Day.
US and Iran will hold a fourth round of nuclear talks this weekend in Oman, US official says — 12:02 p.m.
By the Associated Press
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private diplomatic contacts, said Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, plans to travel to Muscat for direct and indirect talks with Iranian officials mediated by the Omani government.
Three previous rounds of such discussions, held in Muscat and Rome, have yet to produce an agreement although both sides have said the talks have been productive.
After flirting with raising the tax rate for the wealthiest, Trump is backing off — sort of — 11:47 a.m.
By the Associated Press
He noted on social media Friday morning that hiking taxes on anyone, even the rich, could stir a political backlash, although he didn’t completely discourage Republican lawmakers from pursuing that option as they write their massive tax package.
“The problem with even a ‘TINY’ tax increase for the RICH, which I and all others would graciously accept in order to help the lower and middle income workers, is that the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics would go around screaming, ‘Read my lips,’” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.
The president is referring to an infamous quote by George H.W. Bush during the 1988 presidential campaign, when he pledged not to implement any new taxes as president.
Trump has mused about a higher rate for millionaires for months and revived his request in private talks this week.
Trump will formally nominate Fox News host Jeanine Pirro as federal prosecutor for Washington — 11:20 a.m.
By the Associated Press
That’s according a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity Friday to disclose plans not yet made public.
Trump announced on social media Thursday that he’s appointing Pirro to be interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Nominating her for the job on a more permanent basis makes her subject to Senate confirmation.
Trump picked Pirro after pulling his nomination of conservative activist Ed Martin Jr., who’s been acting U.S. Attorney since January. Trump withdrew Martin from consideration after a key Republican senator said he couldn’t support Martin for the job due to his defense of rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Pirro has significantly more courtroom experience than Martin, who’d never worked as a prosecutor or tried a case. She was elected as a judge and a district attorney in New York’s Westchester County years before joining Fox News.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who publicly opposed Martin’s nomination, expressed support for Pirro’s selection on social media.
Senator blasts Trump action on grant program to improve online access — 11:00 a.m.
By the Associated Press
Sen. Patty Murray, the sponsor of legislation aimed at helping more Americans have access to affordable high-speed internet, is blasting Trump’s announcement that he was ending the program.
Trump said on Truth Social: “No more woke handouts based on race!”
Murray, a Democrat from Washington state, said in a statement that her legislation, the Digital Equity Act, passed as part of a bipartisan infrastructure package during Joe Biden’s presidency. It was designed to close the digital divide in America.
She says funding went to “help red and blue communities” with money going to school districts, libraries and workforce training programs, among other things.
“It’s about making sure seniors can get online and equipping every student in every classroom with the tools they need to succeed, whether that’s a hotspot to take home or a laptop,” Murray said.
She said the funding “will be illegally blocked because the President doesn’t like the word equity.”
Rights groups sue to free Venezuelans deported from the US and held in El Salvador — 10:44 a.m.
By the Associated Press
International human rights organizations filed the lawsuit Friday with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights asking that the commission order El Salvador’s government to release the Venezuelans deported from the United States and held in a maximum-security prison.
In March, the US government deported more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants alleged to have ties to the Tren de Aragua gang to El Salvador, paying the Salvadoran government to imprison them.
Since then, they’ve had no access to lawyers or ability to communicate with their families. Neither the US nor Salvadoran governments have said how the men could eventually regain their freedom.
“These individuals have been stripped from their families and subject to a state-sponsored enforced disappearance regime, effectively, completely against the law,” said Bella Mosselmans, director of the Global Strategic Litigation Council, which helped bring the suit. “We’re hoping that this case might help put pressure on El Salvador to put basic guardrails in place.”
Fishermen battling with changing oceans chart new course after Trump’s push to deregulate — 10:43 a.m.
By the Associated Press
Virginia Olsen has pulled lobsters from Maine’s chilly Atlantic waters for decades while watching threats to the state’s lifeblood industry mount.
Trade imbalances with Canada, tight regulations on fisheries and offshore wind farms towering like skyscrapers on open water pose three of those threats, said Olsen, part of the fifth generation in her family to make a living in the lobster trade.
That’s why she was encouraged last month when President Trump signed an executive order that promises to restore American fisheries to their former glory. The order promises to shred fishing regulations, and Olsen said that will allow fishermen to do what they do best — fish.
That will make a huge difference in communities like her home of Stonington, the busiest lobster fishing port in the country, Olsen said.
Trump’s Friday schedule, according to the White House — 10:12 a.m.
By the Associated Press
The first thing on the president’s public schedule for Friday is at 4 p.m., when he will sign executive orders.
At 1 p.m., Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will hold a press briefing.
Wall Street drifts higher as it counts down to a highly anticipated US-China meeting on trade — 10:08 a.m.
By the Associated Press
US stocks are drifting higher Friday as Wall Street heads toward the end of an unusually quiet week.
The S&P 500 was up 0.4% in early trading and on track to erase what had been a small loss for the week. This may be the first week in seven where the index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts moves by less than 1.5%, after getting rocked first by fears about Trump’s trade war and then by hopes that he’ll relent on some of his tariffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 127 points, or 0.3%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% higher.
The big event for the week is likely coming Saturday, when trading will be closed in financial markets. That’s when high-level US and Chinese officials will be meeting in Switzerland for their first talks since Trump launched an escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
New York Mayor Eric Adams says he’ll meet with Trump on Friday to discuss city’s ‘priorities’ — 9:40 a.m.
By the Associated Press
Adams provided few other details about the meeting in Washington, which comes a month after a federal judge approved a US Justice Department request to dismiss the criminal corruption case against the mayor.
Adams was accused last year by former President Joe Biden’s administration of accepting illegal campaign contributions and travel discounts from a Turkish official and others, in exchange for helping Turkey open a diplomatic building without passing fire inspections, among other things. He pleaded not guilty and a trial was set for April.
But Trump’s Justice Department moved to drop the charges so Adams could assist with the president’s immigration agenda.
Danish leader says ‘you cannot spy against an ally’ after reports of US gathering intel on Greenland — 9:32 a.m.
By the Associated Press
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told The Associated Press “you cannot spy against an ally” after reports that the United States has stepped up intelligence gathering on Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory coveted by Trump.
Frederiksen’s comments Friday are the latest in the spat between Denmark, Greenland and the United States because Trump seeks to annex the strategic Arctic island. Denmark and Greenland insist the mineral-rich island is not for sale, while Trump hasn’t ruled out taking it by military force even though Denmark is a NATO ally.
The Danish prime minister spoke to the AP the day after Denmark summoned the top American diplomat in the country for an explanation following a Wall Street Journal report which said several high-ranking officials under the US director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, had directed intelligence agency heads to learn more about Greenland’s independence movement and sentiment about US resource extraction there.
Trump is failing to give ‘critically needed leadership’ in Gaza, Democrats say — 9:22 a.m.
By the Associated Press
The Trump administration is failing to provide “critically needed leadership” to end the growing crisis in Gaza after the collapse of a ceasefire there, the senior Senate Democrats say in their joint letter to Trump.
The Associated Press obtained the letter Thursday night.
The Democrats argued that a new proposal that would US security contractors in a dramatic overhaul of future aid to Gaza was “not viable.” And an Israeli proposal for long-term control within Gaza would only take matters farther away from Trump’s goals for a permanent resolution to the Israeli-Hamas conflict and for improved Israeli security, the Democratic senators said.
Leading Senate Democrats urge Trump to push Israel to let aid back into Gaza — 9:14 a.m.
By the Associated Press
And the two dozen leading Senate Democrats also urged the president to push Israel to forgo any permanent Israeli reoccupation of Gaza
Senators made the appeal in a letter sent Thursday night to the White House, ahead of Trump’s Middle East trip next week. Aid groups also expect a global monitor to release an update next week detailing the worsening food crisis in Gaza amid Israeli aid restrictions.
Senior Democrats among those signing include Sens. Chris Coons, Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen, Cory Booker, Tim Kaine, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren and Chris Van Hollen.
Trump fires Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden — 9:00 a.m.
By the Associated Press
President Trump abruptly fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden on Thursday as the White House continues to purge the federal government of those perceived to oppose the president and his agenda.
Hayden was notified in an email late Thursday from the White House’s Presidential Personnel Office, according to an email obtained by The Associated Press. Confirmed by the Senate to the job in 2016, Hayden was the first woman and the first African American to be librarian of Congress.
Hayden, whose 10-year term was set to expire next year, had come under backlash from a conservative advocacy group that had vowed to root out those standing in the way of Trump’s agenda. The group, American Accountability Foundation, accused her and other library leaders of promoting children’s books with “radical” content and literary material authored by Trump opponents.
Up to 1,000 transgender troops are being moved out of the military in new Pentagon order — 8:40 a.m.
By the Associated Press
The Pentagon will immediately begin moving as many as 1,000 openly identifying transgender service members out of the military and give others 30 days to self-identify under a new directive issued Thursday.
Buoyed by Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to enforce a ban on transgender individuals in the military, the Defense Department will begin going through medical records to identify others who haven’t come forward.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who issued the latest memo, made his views clear after the court’s decision.
“No More Trans @ DoD,” Hegseth wrote in a post on X. Earlier in the day, before the court acted, Hegseth said that his department is leaving wokeness and weakness behind.
“No more pronouns,” he told a special operations forces conference in Tampa. “No more dudes in dresses. We’re done with that s---.”
Trump says he is naming Fox News host and former judge Jeanine Pirro as top federal prosecutor in DC — 8:36 a.m.
By the Associated Press
Trump said Thursday that he is naming Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, a former county prosecutor and elected judge, to be the top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital after abandoning his first pick for the job.
Pirro, who joined Fox News in 2006, cohosts the network’s show “The Five” on weekday evenings. She was elected as a judge in New York’s Westchester County Court in 1990 before serving three terms as the county’s elected district attorney.
Trump tapped Pirro to at least temporarily lead the nation’s largest US Attorney’s office after pulling his nomination of conservative activist Ed Martin Jr. for the position earlier Thursday. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he was naming Pirro as the interim US attorney in Washington, D.C., but didn’t indicate whether he would nominate her for the Senate-confirmed position on a more permanent basis.
Trump withdrew Martin from consideration after a key Republican senator said he could not support Martin for the job due to his defense of rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump floats cutting China tariffs to 80% ahead of meeting as he looks to deescalate trade war — 8:12 a.m.
By the Associated Press
Trump on Friday floated cutting tariffs on China to 80% ahead of a weekend meeting as he looks to de-escalate the trade war.
Top US officials are set to meet with a high-level Chinese delegation this weekend in Switzerland in the first major talks between the two nations since Trump sparked a trade war with stiff tariffs on imports.
‘A beautiful prison’: Mohsen Mahdawi seeks solace in rural Vermont as he fends off deportation — 5:16 a.m.
By Paul Heintz, Globe correspondent
When he reached the ridgeline above his property, Mohsen Mahdawi marveled at the miles of rolling hills in the distance, a late-afternoon sun illuminating the budding trees in the valley before him.
“This feels like freedom, you know?” he said, his left arm sweeping across the landscape, palm open as if to hold it all in his hand. “You look at the horizon and you see the clouds racing.”
That view had particular resonance for Mahdawi this week. One of several high-profile international students targeted for deportation by the Trump administration for protesting the Israel-Hamas War, Mahdawi was released from detention in a northern Vermont prison just a week ago. He has returned to what he calls his “sanctuary:” 21 acres of forestland off an unpaved road in the rural reaches of the upper Connecticut River Valley. The roof of a tiny cabin he’d built was just visible through the trees below.
“It‘s amazing,” he said of the view, grinning.
Danish leader says ‘you cannot spy against an ally’ after reports of US gathering Greenland info — 4:56 a.m.
By the Associated Press
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told The Associated Press “you cannot spy against an ally” after reports that the United States has stepped up intelligence gathering on Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory coveted by US Trump.
Denmark Thursday summoned the top American diplomat in the country for an explanation following a Wall Street Journal report which said several high-ranking officials under the US director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, had directed intelligence agency heads to learn more about Greenland’s independence movement and sentiment about US resource extraction there.
‘It’s all connected’: In Appalachia, a bustling community struggles under the weight of mounting DOGE cuts — 4:41 a.m.
By Tal Kopan, Globe Staff
A music and art festival nestled in an Appalachian river valley wouldn’t immediately seem like a place where President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency would be top of mind.
But outdoorsy locals at the annual Cheat River Festival last weekend were indeed ruminating on the many ways the long arm of Washington has disrupted life in these verdant woods.
Sitting in lawn chairs with friends listening to a folk band was a Forest Service employee who’s lost so many colleagues to layoffs and buyouts that he worries about the cascading effects of the cuts on local communities and forests. An artist selling wood work inlaid with stone lost a grant to help grow the whitewater rafting business she owns with her husband.
After Trump’s policies canceled their grants, these HBCU scholars try to plan for an uncertain future — 4:30 a.m.
By Asia Alexander, Globe Correspondent
Ashley Preston was thrilled when she received a $60,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in January. The associate professor of history at Howard University had planned to use the funding — reserved specifically for faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) — to take a sabbatical and finish her book on civil rights icon Mary McLeod Bethune and the Democratic Party.
But three months later, the opportunity vanished.
On April 3, Preston received a termination letter. The explanation, which included phrases like “ending radical DEI programs” and “reducing federal bureaucracy,” made it clear that her grant had become collateral damage in a much larger political shift.
Freed Palestinian student accuses Columbia University of inciting violence — 1:02 a.m.
By the Associated Press
A Palestinian student arrested as he was about to finalize his U.S. citizenship accused Columbia University on Thursday of eroding democracy with its handling of campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war.
Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led anti-war protests at the Ivy League school in New York in 2023 and 2024, spent 16 days in a Vermont prison before a judge ordered him released on April 30. He spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday, a day after pro-Palestinian protestors clashed with campus security guards inside the university’s main library. At least 80 people were taken into custody, police said.
Mahdawi said instead of being a “beacon of hope,” the university is inciting violence against students.
Fishermen battling with changing oceans chart new course after Trump’s push to deregulate — 12:09 a.m.
By the Associated Press
Virginia Olsen has pulled lobsters from Maine’s chilly Atlantic waters for decades while watching threats to the state’s lifeblood industry mount.
Trade imbalances with Canada, tight regulations on fisheries and offshore wind farms towering like skyscrapers on open water pose three of those threats, said Olsen, part of the fifth generation in her family to make a living in the lobster trade.
That’s why she was encouraged last month when President Trump signed an executive order that promises to restore American fisheries to their former glory. The order promises to shred fishing regulations, and Olsen said that will allow fishermen to do what they do best — fish.